Better Late than Never
by Spaztic Arwen
Summary: Shrek was captured before he could break up Fiona and Farquaad's wedding. Can he and the princess still escape the diminutive king's clutches? AU (Obviously)


Disclaimer: If I owned DreamWorks, Puss in Boots would have been an Inigo Montoya rip-off and the Fairy Godmother would have been melted _a la _Wicked Witch of the West.

**A/N- I am not saying that this is how I thought the movie should have ended, far from it. I loved the ending to Shrek 1, it was perfect. This is just another idea.**

**It's what would have happened if Shrek had been captured before he could stop Fiona and Farquaad's wedding.**

Fiona walked through the empty halls of castle Duloc. It was her wedding night, she had received true love's first kiss and the spell had been broken. This should have been the happiest night of her life.

_Then why do I feel so empty inside?_

Shrek's face came to mind.

_No! I won't think of him._

Remembering the ogre brought on a fresh wave of anger which quickly faded, only to strengthened the hollow feeling in her heart. Fiona sighed.

_I'm married now, and free from the witch's spell. This is what I've always wanted._

Fiona turned the corner, fingering the wedding band that she now wore on her ring finger. Somehow, the smooth gem-incrusted gold felt more like an iron manacle. Fiona stopped, hearing voices from around the next corner.

"We caught the ogre trying to crash the wedding." she heard a bouncer-like guard say.

_Shrek?_

"Well I hope that you disposed of him." another voice said, clearly Farquaad.

"We locked him in the dungeon, my lord."

"Very well, I'll deal with him in the morning. Ugh, such unpleasant matters, and on my wedding night too."

Fiona leaned against the wall, staying out of sight. Shrek had come back? Why? After what he had said to her, Fiona had felt as if she had never wanted to speak to him again, but now she felt something tugging at her heart. Rage pushed it back.

_I'll just go down to the dungeon and gloat a bit. _She told herself.

Fiona had to climb down several flights of stairs to get to the dungeon.

_The first thing I'm going to do is to install some elevators in this place._

The stairs ended and she stepped into the hallway that led to the dungeon and its cells. The walls were damp and moss-covered. It struck Fiona how cold it was down there.

_Shrek must be freezing._ She took no comfort in that thought.

"Guard!" she called to a passing watchman, her voice full of regal bearing. "Where are they detaining the ogre?"

"Cell 27 your highness."

Fiona nodded.

"And you have the keys?"

"Yes your highness, shall I accompany you?"

"You may."

The guard led her down the dark corridor until they reached door 27. Fiona nodded and the guard opened it. The princess stepped in the doorway. There was Shrek. His arms hung from chains low on the wall. He knelt on the floor, broken hearted. He bore a black eye, a fat lip, and various other cuts and bruises. Fiona's anger melted.

"Shrek." she called softly. The ogre looked up, realizing for the first time that she was there. Joy broke through the look of sorrow on his face.

"Fiona. There's something I need to tell you..." his eyes fell on the gold band on her ring finger. "Oh no. I'm too late."

Fiona stepped into the cell and walked over to him.

"Your hurt." she said, kneeling down so that they were at eye level.

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

"That's what you said about the arrow."

Shrek forced a smile. The princess removed a silver handkerchief from her pocket and gently began to wipe the slow trickle of blood from his face.

"I don't care if it's too late," Shrek began. "And I don't care what you said to Donkey, even if you do think that princess and ugly don't go together, even if you do think I'm..." he gulped. "'A hideous beast'"

Suddenly it dawned on Fiona.

"You thought I was talking about you?"

"Well, who else would you be talking about?"

"Me."

"You, but you're so..."

"I've been under a spell, Shrek. It turns me into an ogre at night. I was talking about my self."

Shrek let this sink in.

"So all of that needing a place camp after sunset...?"

"Was so that you didn't discover the spell."

"Oh, Fiona."

The princess wrapped her arms around the ogre. Shrek rested his head against hers, wishing with all his might that his arms were unbound so that he could do the same.

"I love you Fiona."

"I love you too Shrek."

"Aww, isn't this touching." a voice said from the doorway.

Shrek looked up, and Fiona turned, not letting go of her true love.

"Farquaad." Shrek leered.

"Fiona, darling, I'm going to have to insist that you get away from the creature. It will be very difficult to do away with him with you standing in the way."

The newly crowned king snapped his fingers and a group of archers filed through the door, aiming their crossbows at Shrek.

"I was hoping to save this bit of unpleasantness for tomorrow, but I suppose that I must deal with it now. I can't have it getting out that my new bride has run off with an _ogre_. Think of how horrible it would look in the tabloids."

"No, you can't! I won't let you!" Fiona cried.

"Well, if you're going to be that way about it, I suppose I can dispose of you as well. I don't actually need you, now that I've been crowned king."

"Farquaad, just let her go. You can do what you want with me!"

"I'm afraid I cannot do that ogre."

Fiona held on to Shrek tighter. Farquaad would kill him no matter what. Unless...

"If I promise to cooperate, to be your wife, to never speak of him again, will you spare him?"

"Hmm, tempting. My wife showing up dead a day after the wedding will not go over well with the media, will it?"

"Fiona..." Shrek whispered. The thought of her with that...monster was enough to break his heart, but the thought of her dead pained him just as much. Shrek knew that Farquaad would probably kill him anyway, but at least this way, Fiona had a chance.

"Your cooperation in return for the ogre's life...mmh, how do I know that it won't come back again?"

"He won't."

_Yes, I will. _Shrek promised himself. _As soon as I can I'll come back to rescue you._

"I suppose not if he valued his life."

_I don't, actually, not without Fiona._

"How do I know you won't run away as soon as I release you."

Fiona swallowed hard.

"I won't. You have my word."

"It's not that I do not trust you my dear, but I highly doubt you will keep your word. If you run, believe that I shall use every hunter, every knight, every hound, and every hawk in my possession to hunt down the ogre and kill it slowly."

"I will not run."

"Done. Come, my dear. Our honeymoon suite is getting cold." Farquaad gestured and two guards stepped forward to grab Fiona. She held Shrek tighter for a moment, then gently kissed his lips.

"I love you." she whispered.

"Fiona, listen, it doesn't matter what happens to me. The first chance you get, get away from here. Run."

"No."

Fiona willed herself to let go of Shrek, stood, and allowed herself to be led away by the guards.

"I love you too." Shrek said, heartbroken.

Fiona turned as she was being led out, looking Farquaad in the eye.

"I will _never_ love you." she said venomously.

"That is fine with me, my dear, so long as you can satisfy me in bed."

These last words threw Shrek into a fit of rage.

"NO!" he shouted, lunging forward with all of his might. The chains that bound him strained and the wall began to crack where they were attached. With a loud crack, they ripped out of the wall, sending Shrek sprawling to the floor. The ogre was quickly on his feet. The archers aimed to shoot, but he swung the chains, whipping the crossbows out of their hands. In the confusion, Fiona managed to fight off the two guards that bond her. She turned to Farquaad, leering with hatred. She smiled, drew back her fist.

"Now, now..." was all the minuscule king managed before Fiona's fist collided with his nose. Barley allowing herself a moment of satisfaction, Fiona turned back to the main fray where Shrek was dispatching the final two archers. They rushed to each other's side. Shrek clasped the princess's hands in his and their eyes met.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I am now."

"Gawds, gawds, seize demb!" Farquaad shouted, his broken nose impairing his speech.

"We better get out of here!" Shrek said. Holding hands, the two ran out of the cell and down the hallway.

"Somebody should really put an elevator in here." Shrek puffed as they raced up the stairs.

"No kidding."

Up the stairs they ran, into a hallway, and at last into the grand hall where they stopped, bent over, gasping for breath. They heard the clicking of hundreds of archers raising their weapons. The two looked up and into the bolts of a hundred crossbows. Farquaad stepped forward.

"I'mb sowy it habd to ebd this way by dear." Farquaad said. He raised his arms to signal his archers to shoot when there was a sudden crash. Stone and mortar rained down on the archers as the dragon burst through the wall.

"Aright, nobody move. I've got a dragon and I'm not afraid to use it.," shouted Donkey, who stood perched atop the dragon. "I'm a donkey on the edge."

The archers turned to shoot the dragon, but were burnet for their efforts. The dragon bent down and caught the diminutive king up in her mouth, tossed him up in the air, caught him in her mouth again, and swallowed Farquaad whole.

"Huh, celebrity marriages. They never last, do they?"

The archers now dispatched of, and every other threat disposed, Shrek and Fiona turned to each other. The ogre took the princess in his arms and held her tightly. He kissed her lips and said softly the words he had said before, and would say to Fiona for the rest of his life if he could.

"I love you."

**A/N- obviously not the most original ending, but what ever. Did you like it? Did ya?**

**I've had the idea for this fic ever since I read S2moviefreak's _Ogre's don't Live Happily Ever After, _a great Shrek 2 AU fic. (just wish she would update!) I finally decided to write it last night while watching Shrek 1 at a Halloween party over my neighbor's house. **

**Thanks to Ashley & Emzies for the pen & paper & Stephie for showing interest.**


End file.
